The Prince strings and fires a heavy
arrow at the contest of arms, the sound resounding around the city

When Prince Siddhattha had become
a young man, his father sent him to study the arts [of warfare] at the
well-known center of learning, "Visvamitta." The Prince readily learned how to
use and a bow and arrow and the art of administration, so that he quickly
learned all that the teacher had to teach him.

In this picture, Prince
Siddhattha is 16 years old and has finished his studies. His father had ordered
the building of three palaces, one for each of the three seasons, for his son to
live in at his pleasure. The first palace was ideal for the cold season, the
second was ideal for the hot season, (what methods were used to control the
temperature in these palaces is unknown), while the third was ideal for the
rainy season.

The King then had the relatives
on both sides of the royal family send their eligible daughters for selection of
the prince's future wife. This was because the King wanted to have his son look
after the royal estate rather than leave home and become a religious teacher.

But the relatives felt that the
Prince should be allowed to demonstrate his prowess at his newly learned arts
for the benefit of his kinsmen, so the King invited all the kin of the royal
family to a gathering in front of a newly built pavilion in the center of the
city to watch the prince's demonstration of his archery skills.

The prince's bow was called
"Sahasthama", meaning "the bow that is so heavy it takes a thousand men to
lift." But the Prince could lift it, according to the Pathamasambodhi, "as a
woman might lift a bobbin." When the relatives gathered there saw this they were
full of praise. Then when the Prince drew the bow, the sound of the stretched
bow resounded throughout Kapilavatthu, so that people who had not come to the
display and did not know that the Prince was firing an arrow, asked each other
what the sound was.

The target that the Prince was
aiming for was the fur of a yak's tail placed some distance away. The Prince
fired the arrow right into he center of the target, as it is said, "with an eye
that was clear and aided by the five senses purified of stains." All the
relatives gladly offered their daughters, from among whom the Prince would
choose his wife. Among them was Bimbayasodhara.